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Published: February 5th 2018
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Well that was a bit of a day!
We were very relieved to see that the tuktuk driver was outside ready for us at 6am and that he eventually managed to find the train station. We had offered 15$ as an incentive, over the odds, but we wanted him to be bothered to get out of bed. He seemed a bit lost at the final furlong, but we were actually right outside, it just didnt look like a train station. Inside was a girl with a table, writing out tickets, but when we showed her our internet one it was ok, we were a bit worried as the website we booked it on was Vietnamese. Just under £8 each. The station was very very basic but the train was there and we had to get into carriage F, seats 2 and 4. We’d looked at pictures on google and so were prepared for the carriage having 2 rows of seats alone the sides, facing each other. The seats were plastic, so a bit hot, but the carriage and toilet were very clean and there was a sort of kitchen with a lady selling snacks and drinks. Opposite us was a
French couple, lots of locals with kids too, all very friendly and had brought loads of food with them.
Heading out of Sihanoukville the little shacks right next to the rail tracks were very poor, terrible conditions again. We had 2 stops, at Kampot and somewhere else, long enough to hop off and buy snacks, bananas and other items we couldn’t identify. Also cans of drink, but not as we know them, apart from coke. I decided to be adventurous but it was a mistake, green cream flavour was pure sugar, yuk!
When we stopped at Kampot 3 Khymer people got on, young, very stroppy as we said the seats opposite were already taken. The French didn’t help themselves by leaving their seats and getting off the train but we protected them valiantly! it was unfortunate that several of us had been given the same seat numbers. A flaw in the system! They huffed their way down the carriage and gave us evils the entire journey. There were plenty of seats, helped by the fact that the French guy had ants in his pants and was constantly up and down, wandering off, and at one point being told
off for opening the door to the outside while we were moving! One of the local ladies sidled up to me with her phone and engaged me in a selfie, which was a bit of a surprise. She loved it, bless her!
The total journey was more or less according to the timetable. There was a dry, dusty, boring section of fields in the middle and when we got to the outskirts of Phnom Penh we crawled along. You could have touched the houses and little shops, they were so close to the train. The amount of rubbish lying around was horrendous. There can be no collections at all. People leave huge piles right next to their houses and floating in the many swampy ditches and ponds. The rats must be the size of small dogs! This trip has really brought home to us the effects of plastic. Cambodia is the worst place we’ve seen of all the countries we’ve been to. Sad face!
The 7 hours passed really easily, snacking, reading, sleeping, people watching. We don’t feel we need to do it again ever, but it was interesting and safer than the bus. 2 Aussie guys had
done a minibus in the opposite direction and were severely traumatised by it. We’ve done minibuses lots of times and are still here, but it’s never relaxing....
When we got out of Phnom Penh station there were the usual tuktuk guys, we did need one and had a 3-5$ price range in mind. We said we needed 258 Street, luckily they are on a grid system, so easy for anyone to find. How much? Pause...... 6$. No, 4$. That’s for 1 person, he said. OK, bye, we walked off and he chased after us, OK, 4 it was. We got in and I got up my screenshot of the roads. We set off in the right direction for a few minutes, then Mr Freakin Hopeless turned round and asked us to tell HIM where to go. We’ve been here once before and I sort of knew which direction and we could read the street signs, which have a name and the number after in brackets. He was crap, basically, we had to keep flapping our hands to say keep going, turn right, eventually after going all round the houses he found it. It is not difficult here. Grief!
The Lazy Gecko Guesthouse is, well, a hostel, in that mostly it is dorms with a few private rooms. They were very friendly and I was pleased to see from the register that I wasn’t the oldest resident. The bar guy, Todd, checked us in, we paid 67$ for 3 nights including a10$ deposit for tiny towels and the key. The room is cheap and not at all cheerful. The window is onto the corridor, the sheets are laundered but stained, there is only one electrical socket and the bathroom? We have decided not to actually look at the toilet. It is, however, what we were expeciting for the price and it’s nowhere near the red light area like last time. The other side of the main road, right opposite, is the Hotel Cambodiana, whose pool we have pimped in the past and are going to do so again tomorrow.
After a beer in the bar we walked up the main road next to to river to find the Sisters of Cambodia shop to get our nails done. This is one project of several designed to get girls out of sex work and into employment. Sadly they couldn’t fit
us in, so we succumbed to hunger so we went into the nearest restaurant, up many flights of stairs and ate a very breezy and early dinner, watching boats on the river and many monks taking a constitutional. Now off to find a cheaper, albeit less ethical, nail place!
Rest day tomorrow!
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